I have been journaling or keeping a diary on an off since I was young. Do you remember the diaries that had little padlocks on them? I loved them, I always felt so grown up.
As I have grown up writing in a diary, I feel this is probably where my love of writing really started. It is something I have continued to do and I can definitely feel positive benefits to writing in a journal. Journaling is such an underrated self-care activity that can be an effortless task, but you can reap so many positive rewards.
What is journaling?
Journaling is a diary-style entry where you simply write don your thoughts, feelings or writing about what happened over the course of a day or other period. It can also be about exploring a particular subject if you use journaling prompts.
Journaling has been a great form of self-care for me and something I regularly practice daily or weekly as a habit. I can feel the benefits of practice and I am sharing 5 essential benefits that you will get from consistent journaling.
1. Can relieve stress
Stress can cause physical and mental problems and is so important to find coping strategies that can help relieve the stress in your life. Journaling can be a proactive task to help you deal with stressful situations.
Having a space where you can write down about a bad or stressful day, you can express your stresses or anxieties out of your brain and on to paper. It takes out all the feelings when it is written in black and white. You can then come back to your journal and gives you an opportunity to re-read them and work through any underlying problems. It can give you that clarity.
Just the simple act of stopping, sitting down and writing down about your day or explaining your feelings will have already given you that time to reflect and work through the feeling. I have used journaling for this very reason especially if I had a bad day; once I have written it all, I felt lighter. I recommend this as a healthy strategy to cope with stress and anxiety.
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2. Inspires your creativity
Journaling can motivate you and over time can build your confidence with writing. It allows you to explore your cognitive and emotional areas of your mind. This unlocks and boosts your creative side. Many people choose to journal in the mornings, so that you can not only start off your day positively, but hopefully the creativity flows throughout your day. Art journaling is so helpful for your mental health. There are so many different forms of journaling and art journaling is a great way to bring creativity. You can use a range of stationery such as: stamps, craft paper, washi tape, stickers, paints and much more to create beautiful spreads. It can put you in that creative mindset and this can work the same as writing in your journal sparking that writing match.
Once I have designed a creative journaling spread and written I feel more inspired to create bullet journaling spread and written I feel more inspired to create bullet journal spreads, write blog posts or to take content photos.
3. Boosts your memory
Using a journal helps to keep your brain in tip-top shape. It boosts memory comprehension, which means it also increases your working memory capacity that will help improve your cognitive processing. By journaling regularly, you will also be able to look back and reflect on those memories.
When you write things by hand, your brain processes information better and commits it to memory. When you journal, it is also making you focus on a particular idea or thought. Because of the nature of the brain, you are far more likely to remember the information you focus on. I personally find putting pen to paper helps me remember appointments and information.
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4. Self-discovery
In a world that is so fast paced and with so many platforms telling you what you should or shouldn’t do, it can be easy to lose your sense of self. Journaling provides you with a much-needed pause to enable you to reconnect with yourself and rediscover who you are and what you want. When you write, you will learn your preferences, fears, dreams, worries and what makes you happy.
We are all constantly changing and evolving, so it is important to keep checking in with yourself. Journaling will enable you to record those changes and get to know yourself even better. Similarly, if you are struggling to find clarity on what is next for you, or what you want to do with your life, journaling prompts can really help you. This practice will enable you to remove the mental barriers that will aid in self-regulation.
5. Tracks your progress and growth
If you make journaling a habit, a consistent habit you are doing daily, you will automatically be recording your progress and growth. Writing about your day, your feelings or recording your successes will in the long-term show you how for you have come.
By keeping journals, you can re-read your journal entries and reflect. You will see changes in your writing, what you have overcome. This can only boost your self-confidence, but also motivate you to achieve you achieve your goals as well as helping you to identify areas where you may need to make changes.
These are 5 top benefits of journaling regularly, but daily journaling can bring you so many more positive benefits including:
- Helps you to prioritise problems, fears and concerns
- Track symptoms or triggers
- Improves your mental health
- Boosts your self-confidence
- Helps you to achieve your goals
- Reduces anxiety and depression
- Lowers your blood pressure
- Helps with PTSD
- Improves your physical health
Do you journal regularly? Id love to hear in the comments.
I agree, journaling can provide a sense of release and relief, as well as a feeling of belonging and self-understanding.
Thank you for reading and commenting.
These are all amazing benefits of journaling! We’d like to give journaling a try.
Definitely give it a go! Thank you for reading and commenting.
I used to keep a Gratitude Journal and fill it in around 3 x per week but that’s gone by the wayside now as life has got too busy. You’re right about the benefits of physically writing things down though, that is a habit I want to get back into, thank you for the reminder! x
That’s good you did that, but you can always voice gratitude when love is too busy. Thank you for reading and commenting.
I love journaling and it has been my saving grace this year helping me to get my thoughts out, work through difficult emotions and simply declutter my mind. My journal is my one comfort that I can pour myself into without backlash or fear of anyone’s reactions. It’s definitely a great tool for your mental and emotional well-being. Thanks for sharing your benefits.
It is great to hear that journaling has helped you get through things. Thank you for reading and commenting.
I got my first journal when I was still a very small child. Small enough to not really know what I was doing, but I was happy with my gift. Then I read Anne Frank’s dairy and I was so inspired. I started trying to write like her. I’m now wise enough to still admire Anne Frank’s writing, but also treasure my own writing style and use journaling as a way to improve and develop it.
It sounds like you have found a great way to journal. Thank you for reading and commenting. Can you link your blog if you have one?
These are great things to help and my favorite is memory because sometimes I tend to forget haha. Thank you for sharing!
Same! Thank you!
There are so many great benefits to journalling! It’s part of my daily routine and it’s helpful in so many ways. Thank you for sharing!
I am glad you find the journaling practice helpful. Thank you for reading and commenting.